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[Crunchyroll promo image]
AKA: がんばれ同期ちゃん
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Length: Web release, 12 episodes, 6 minutes each
Distributor: Currently available streaming on crunchyroll.
Content Rating: 16+ (Fanservice.)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku
Notes: Based on illustrations by Yomu (Yom)

Copyright: Yom/Douki
Rating:

Ganbare Douki-chan

Synopsis

Douki-chan is a hapless waifu Office Lady who's trying to land a male co-worker, but who's having to compete for his attention with two other women who are much more sexually aggressive than she is.


Review

This is the first time I can essentially re-use the same opening paragraph for two shows- because the shows are so much alike. Ganbare Douki-chan debuted on Crunchyroll about the same time as Tawawa On Monday, and the similarities are startling: both have 6-minute episodes; both feature a girl trying to seduce a salaryman (Tawawa has 3 other girls trying to seduce men as well); in both series the male characters are eyeless (Tawawa, again, has an exception); each series features a particular sexual fetish (boobs in Tawawa, stockings in Douki-chan- the series is based on designs by women's-legwear fetish artist Yomu (or Yom), of Miru Tights); both series keep most of their cast unnamed; in both series, at one point, our respective heroines mistakenly fire off an embarrassing email. And both series end with a certain kind of event.

If I had to declare a preference, though, it would be Douki-chan. For one thing, it's much less obtrusive about its fetish; while it's multi-jiggles-per-minute in Tawawa, you might not even notice an obsession with pantyhose in Douki-chan, except possibly in the cheesecake closing stills. (Again, both series have THOSE.)

The other reason I like Douki-chan better is that it has a bit more of a coherent plot, if a shopworn one. (Tawawa is more a collection of vignettes.)

Mind, Douki-chan's opener didn't please me too much. She "accidentally" (i.e., on purpose) books herself and her Salaryman Prospect into the same hotel room in the hopes that he would put the moves on her. Now, this definitely seems like something a male scriptwriter would be much more likely to come up with than an actual woman, but in any case it could lead to serious career, and possible legal, problems for our male character if he'd been foolish enough to actually fulfill her fantasy. (He's only identified as "Douki-kun" in cast lists.)

Douki-chan's rivals for "Douki-kun" are identified in the show's credits as "Kohai-chan" (who's her "junior" at work), and "Senpai-san" (who works for a business client of their firm, but who has a history with "Douki-kun".) Both are more overtly aggressive in pursuing "Douki-kun" than Ms. "Douki-" is- particularly "Kohai-chan"- while despite the fact that "ganbare" means "do your best!", Ms. "Douki" does not live up to the exhortation, fumbling her opportunities, including a perfect setup which she manages to blow through sheer hesitation. (Facepalm time there.)

But as for Mr. "-kun", he doesn't say a lot, but as for his own feelings, you'll get a pretty good idea of his character (and his regard for our heroine) from what he DOES rather than what he SAYS.

The show did have one gag I really liked, which comes with a moral lesson too: if you get drunk, there's no telling who you'll find in bed with you in the morning.

The Rec is another show about office romance that has quite a bit more maturity and depth than this one.

It's OK, but shows this short just don't have that much THERE there; the shortest shows I've thought were really satisfactory clocked in at least 12 minutes per episode. The script isn't exactly that original, though again I thought Douki-chan's bed partner was a delightful turn of events. It seemed to me that even the character designs were toned down a bit from Yom's originals. Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Definitely Mature Situations, but not nearly as fanservicey as Tawawa is. Still probably better for 16+.



Version(s) Viewed: Crunchyroll video stream
Review Status: Full (12/12)
Ganbare Douki-chan © 2021 AtelierPontdarc
 
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